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Photos were taken some time before I purchased the car which I now call the "REO Speedwagon"
	Click Images for larger view looks orange in these photos but it is really red/red.
August 7, 2003 Photos of burned out car August 4 2003 My Greenwood SportWagon no longer exists.  It is nothing but a charred pile of ash.  My son Aaron's other car broke down today so he had to take the Vette and on the freeway in Tempe a wheel fell off and the car headed towards a wall, he managed to get it away from that but found himself headed toward the front end of a semi-truck, just then the gas tank exploded and the car burst into flames. He whipped the wheel, avoiding the semi but slammed into the wall on the other side of the freeway. He crawled from the car as it burned to the ground and apparently is uninjured but the car is a total lost. It is just sinking in that I almost lost a son today. Scary stuff. I'm sure glad he is ok. I guess this will put a fitting end to my Vette diary and because I only had it insured as a regular Vette I am sure it will also continue my trend of losing money on every vehicle I've owned. I guess at this point the car doesn't really matter, I'm just glad that Aaron is ok.   Photos

June 10, 2000:

1979 Corvette L82 Station Wagon
27,000 original miles
Automatic Transmission
power everything
T-top
Appears to be a Greenwood Wagon Kit.

I will be flying to South Florida on June 17th 2000 to pick this vehicle up.  I'm pretty darn excited...  and will be driving it home via the Barber Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham Alabama, the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green Kentucky, and it will be on display at Bloomington Gold in Bloomington Illinois where 2000 Vettes will be gathering. (Oh yeah, read the below story to see how this all turned out.)

Click here to see photos and hear about:
Sheldon's Big Adventure (or should that be "disaster"?)

Click Here for Discount Chevy Corvette Parts

Other Corvette Wagons:

Here is a pretty cool station wagon updated custom.  More photos are available at: 

 http://www.mrdos.com/1954ChevyNomad.htm

From Sheldon:  Just learned that the Greenwood Sportwagons were advertised in Playboy Magazine in 1975 or 1976 in their "Playtoys for Big Boys" article.  Supposedly the one shown in the photos is brown with wire wheels.  If anyone has a copy of this could you please scan it and send it to me?  sheldon@sheldonaubut.com 

I'm also told that there was a Sportwagon on the cover of "Vette" magazine's Aug-Sept issue for 1981.  I'd love to see a copy of that also.

Mike Hammock's Greenwood  --  Click on photo for the whole story

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Bud Mackinga's Vette wagon project

Click thumbnail for larger views

     

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From Scott:  --  Shark Man  --  redc3@earthlink.net
May 27,2000
Attached is a picture of another Vette wagon I found, this one is in Germany and has the "factory" type sidepipes on it...not bad looking either.

July 25, 2002
From Sheldon:  We've finally gotten more photos of this wonderful Greenwood from the owners in Germany.  Click here, or on the photo to go to the rest of the pictures.

 

1967 Corvette Station Wagon

Copyright 1984-2001, DTS and The Corvette Doctor's Corvette Page
Taken at Corvettes and Carlisle, August, 1984
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Downs/3000/vetpict.html 

   
Mike Guyette's 75 Corvette Station Wagon

March 31, 2003 - Mike has a new web site devoted to Greenwood Corvettes,
Check it out at:  http://greenwoodcorvettes.com

You can find more info about this vehicle at the Sharkwerkes, click on "68-82 Specs" then scroll to bottom of page...

Dave Shappell's Eckler	Jim Gentry's 76 Greenwood
Boum Boum's Vette wagon	Eric's Vette Wagon Project
"Jo's Baby" The very first Turbo Greenwood Sportwagon	Jack Walling's Eckler Wagon
Corvette Wagons made in Edmonton Alberta Canada?

This one is was for sale on E-Bay...  The owner claimed that it is a "factory" job, but to the best of our knowledge the factory never produced any of these.  It looks to be a body shop addition of a kit, although this is the first of this kit that we have seen. August 11, 2008 - Update   Sheldon,         This is Dana Fraley of Corvettes by Dana in Phoenix. I talked to you a few years ago about your burned Sportwagon that ended up here in Phoenix with your son I believe. I don't know if I told you before that I am the builder of the purple and gold Sportwagon if you want to update the info on your site regarding this car. I am enclosing a photo from your site of the car so you will know which one I'm talking about. Let me know what ever happened to your car in Phoenix.                            Thanks, Dana.

 

Here are a couple others that someone sent me:

Corvette "Corvair" styling exercise - 1954 auto show circuit

Click for larger image

Bobby Ashby's 69 Vette Wagon
It has caddy tail lights 350 engine, automatic, I have silver paint for it!  The back window does NOT open.

This photo is on the Corvette Netherlands web site.   I believe this is another photo of Mike Guyette's machine.

http://www.corvette.nl/greenwood.html 

Thanks to my friend  Bjorn Rietdijk for translating:

The idea of a Corvette station wagon was not thought of by Greenwood, but it was further developed by him to get a better fit to the rear of the then new 1974 Corvette.  The first Corvette station wagon kits were developed for the 1968-1973 Corvettes with chromed rear bumpers.  These had rather low rear windows, and the roof was straight but rising at the rear, like the normal rear of those Corvettes.  The rear window often could not be opened.

There is a story that the first Corvette station wagon was thought up by a drummer who wanted a Corvette in which he could haul all his musical attributes.  The original design had some room for improvement, especially in relation to the new rear end of the 1974 Corvette.  The side windows had to be enlarged and entry from the rear had to made possible.  To get it right, Greenwood started from scratch.  The first prototype proved to be an enormous improvement compared to what was developed by others up to that moment.  Not only for practical reasons; it also looked a lot more elegant.

The roof-line was the same as with the t-tops and was also shorter and lower.  The rear window sloped just as much as the rear bumper.  The side windows ran higher in the roof and were made of curved Lexan.  They blended smoothly with the rest of the bodywork because they were glued in to place, and not fitted in a rubber molding.

The main improvement was the rear window that opened, which made access a lot easier.  The first prototype had a polyester window-edge which was later left out because of production problems and a bad fit after repeated opening and closing.  This first Greenwood Sportwagon was metallic brown and was featured in a number of magazines and books before its 'disappearance'.  This 'disappearance' meant it was torn down and redone, then sold as a silver GT.  In those days Corvettes were expensive as well, and customer demand was more important then prototypes because it brought in money.

The Greenwoood brothers could not get the Corvette Sportwagon entirely out of their system and when they found a solution for the problems with the rear window opening by itself, they restarted the project.

The donor car for the second Sportwagon prototype was John Greenwoods girlfriend Sharon Vaden's white '75 Corvette coupe.  Burt overcame the problems they had with the window-edge of the first version of the rear window by leaving it away and using just multi-layered glass with holes drilled in to it for the hinges and the lock.  A rubber seal prevented water from entering.  The window was supported by two gas-filled supports that kept it open when necessary.  The lock could be opened electrically by a switch on the door support on the drivers side.  The spoiler on the rear was relocated from the boot-lid to the roof to try to keep the window at least a bit clean.

This second prototype did not stay white, but was painted Ferrari red, and later BMW cinnabar red. A reinforced loading floor necessitated relocating the gas tank.  A special gas tank was put where the spare wheel was, and the spare wheel was exchanged for a space-saver spare.  All this was done to optimize luggage space.  Special polyester interior panels where made and the luggage space got a black carpet similar to the rest of the interior.  The Sportwagon was given electrically operated adjustable air suspension.  The interior remained unchanged, as well as the engine and the gearbox.  The exhaust system had to be modified because of the changed locations of the spare wheel and gas tank.

From this Greenwood Sportwagon molds were made to manufacture kits.  ACI made some.  When John moved from Ohio to Florida Eckler's became the new partner at Greenwood Automotive for the production of polyester body parts.  Amongst which the Sportwagon.  Besides manufacturing complete cars Eckler's also sold Sportwagon kits.  Parts of it and even complete rear ends with wider mudguards.  With these kits the gas tank stayed in it's original location, which had a negative effect on luggage space.  Estimates are that less the two dozen complete cars and kits were sold by ACI and Eckler, including a few Turbo Sportwagons.

If anyone has any information about, or photos of Corvette Wagons please e-mail:  sheldon@sheldonaubut.com 

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